DAN Gosling bagged a dramatic, late, VAR-assisted goal to earn Cherries a brilliant victory at Chelsea, bringing to an end their long losing run.

Battling Cherries, with a squad decimated by injuries, looked set to take a priceless point back to the south coast, until midfielder Gosling popped up with six minutes to play to hook in and, after lengthy consultation with official Simon Hooper, the goal stood with an offside call overturned.

The 1-0 win ends a streak of five successive defeats for Eddie Howe’s men in style.

Howe made four changes to the side which lost to Liverpool last weekend.

Arnaut Danjuma (foot) joined the lengthy list of injuries while Nathan Ake and Callum Wilson (both hamstring) also missed out.

Dominic Solanke dropped to the bench with fit-again Joshua King returning to feature for the first time since early November.

Gosling came in for his first start since April while Jack Stacey and Lewis Cook also made the XI.

Harry Wilson was also unavailable due to a dead leg, but Junior Stanislas did make a matchday squad for the first time this season. Youngsters Gavin Kilkenny and Alex Dobre were in line for Premier League debuts, if introduced from the bench.

Cherries, seeking to avoid a sixth straight Premier League defeat, got off to a strong start with Ryan Fraser’s low strike parried away by goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Chelsea, who sit fourth in the table, soon got into their stride, forcing Cherries back towards their own goal.

Aaron Ramsdale remained relatively untested, other than spreading himself brilliantly to thwart Mason Mount as the midfielder looked to clip a shot beyond him from 10 yards.

Emerson and Tammy Abraham both tried their luck, while Philip Billing was well placed to clear multiple Chelsea corners away from the near post.

Christian Pulisic looked to have ghosted into a dangerous position at the back post, but could not direct his header on target before Stacey had a nervy moment as he sliced a clearance just over his own crossbar.

But Cherries rallied again to produce a strong end to the half. A dangerous Diego Rico corner gave the hosts problems, with Gosling’s effort blocked.

Chelsea almost grabbed the lead themselves in the final seconds of the opening period as Abraham rose highest to meet a Willian corner, but his header went high.

As at the start of the first, Howe’s men made a bright start to the second period. Fraser intercepted a loose ball inside his own half and unleashed King down the left, but the Norwegian was unable to test Arrizabalaga, cutting inside and seeing his shot blocked by Kurt Zouma.

Zouma then caused problems at the other end, firing towards the bottom corner but his effort was blocked before the Frenchman then stretched out an important leg to deny King after Lerma had sent him clear.

Frank Lampard turned to his bench, introducing Mateo Kovacic and Callum Hudson-Odoi, but Cherries were the next to threaten as King wriggled his way free in the box before looking to tee up Gosling, but he could not quite stretch to reach the ball.

When Chelsea managed to finally find a way to penetrate the Cherries defence, they found Ramsdale in the way with the England under-21 goalkeeper alert to deny an Emerson header from point-blank range before palming the ball away to safety.

Already without nine first-team players due to injury, Cherries suffered another setback on 75 minutes. King, who had only just returned from a hamstring complaint, was forced off after holding the back of his leg again with Solanke introduced.

The striker soon caused problems, almost nipping in to score at the near post.

But the Cherries fans did not have to wait much longer to see the dramatic winning goal. After a corner was cleared out to Lerma, who headed back into the box.

Gosling peeled off the defenders and hooked just beyond the despairing dive of Azpilicueta on the line.

The linesman flagged for offside, but after a lengthy check with VAR, the midfielder with wild celebrations as the goal was awarded.

Chelsea piled on the pressure late on with substitute Mateo Kovacic denied by a diving Ramsdale, but Cherries held on.

Cherries: Ramsdale; Stacey, Francis, Mepham, Rico; L Cook, Billing, Lerma, Gosling, Fraser; King (Solanke, 75).

Unused subs: Simpson, Surman, Kilkenny, Stanislas, Dobre, Boruc (g/k).

Booked: L Cook, Gosling.

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Zouma, Emerson; Jorginho (Batshuayi, 78), Kante; Pulisic (Kovacic, 65), Mount, Willian (Hudson-Odoi, 65); Abraham.

Unused subs: Christensen, James, Pedro, Caballero (g/k).

Booked: Kovacic.

Referee: Graham Scott

VAR: Simon Hooper